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Will Toronto's "Vegan priest" push his ideology on the people at Guardian Angels in Brampton? Will he be welcomed with a pig roast?

Vox Cantoris - Tue, 04/16/2024 - 22:30

The annual priest transfer is underway for the Archdiocese of Toronto. It is larger than it has been in several years, certainly since the No Mass For You period of Tom Collins.

In early 2021, the Catholic Register, owned by the Archdiocese of Toronto, featured the pastor of St. Ambrose in south Etobicoke who declared that our God is a vegan god Animal welfare and the Church (catholicregister.org):

“I remember in the beginning I was a little bit more urgent (with preaching about transitioning to plant-based living) because I was kind of going through it,” he said. “I understand it kind of takes (small) steps with certain people and obviously people have been open to it as well. If you’re always talking about it, I think there are people that don’t want to hear it all the time unfortunately. It’s a delicate matter at times because you are dealing with people’s palette.”

How much did this priest preach of Jesus Christ?

Good luck to him as he takes up his new role at Guardian Angels in Brampton, a parish where Filipinos and Africans dominate. I am sure they will welcome him with a parking lot pig roast.

Vox Cantoris: Food for thought! Toronto pastor preaches "veganism" from pulpit - says we have a: "Vegan-god!"

Categories: All, Traditional

Founder Jennifer Lahl’s Speech on Surrogacy to the Casablanca Declaration

The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network - Tue, 04/16/2024 - 22:13

My thanks to the Casablanca Declaration for your kind invitation to be with you at this historic moment in surrogacy law.

I’ve been asked to speak today on The Market Based on the Exploitation of Women – being from California, I have a front seat on what this market, that I call Big Fertility, looks like. The laws in California that govern the selling of eggs and the renting of wombs, protect the monied interests of the Baby Markets. The agencies. The lawyers. The brokers. The fertility doctors. And most importantly, the purchasing parents.

Most recently, we had a horrific surrogacy case break in the news in the United States. A veterinarian in Chicago has been accused of distributing child pornography and detailing his plans to sexually assault his unborn child, carried by a California surrogate, in messages he shared online. What will become of this child once it is born, we do not know. What we do know is legally/contractually, she has no claim to this baby once she gives birth. I can’t imagine the trauma this surrogate mother is experiencing, knowing that in her thinking she was “helping to build a family” she was in fact, helping a child predator molest a little baby. I’ve been asked, “will the surrogate be able to keep the baby?” Sadly, I don’t know and I don’t know if she would even want to. Many surrogates do surrogacy first for money, not to have more children. And it is common legal practice, in the United States, that before a surrogate mother is even pregnant, she legally severs her maternal rights or any claim to the child she has been paid to gestate. The market dictates that the child is the product being ordered, bought, sold, and paid for and the woman is just the vessel to fulfill this transaction.

Here is another story from Linda, a California surrogate.

Linda is a two-time surrogate. As is common, her first surrogacy arrangement, according to Linda went without any problems, so as a young married mother, with her own children, she decided to do another surrogacy. This time the contract was between her and a couple from China. During her pregnancy, carrying twins for this couple, the purchasing parents told Linda that they were now getting a divorce and wanted Linda to terminate the pregnancy. They told her they would pay her an additional $80,000 to do this. Linda was shocked and offered to adopt the twins once they were born. The purchasing mother, who was quite wealthy explained that she didn’t want her children to be raised in a lower income household. Linda refused the termination, gave birth to the twins. She does not know the end of the story but was told the little boy twin was given up for adoption but the Chinese mother kept the little girl. Linda now struggles with PTSD because of the trauma of her surrogate pregnancy.

A whistleblower contacted me once to tell me about what was going on at the California agency where she worked. She had been hired to work only with their VIP clients. I asked her who these VIP clients were and she said, “Oh they come from China and they have buckets of cash!”. She described how it was common that they would get three surrogates pregnant at a time and once pregnancies were confirmed along with sex of the babies and if it was a case of twins, then they would decide which pregnancy to keep and which two women would be told to terminate the pregnancy. She said, once an ultrasound appeared to show a baby was missing a finger, so the surrogate had to terminate the pregnancy since the baby was defective. When you treat human reproduction as a financial transactional market, these sorts of abuses happen regularly.

Another California surrogate who was hired to carry twins for a couple in China suffered more trauma when she delivered the twins. The purchasing parents were mad that they didn’t get the babies they ordered and demanded the surrogate pay back half of the costs. They requested $5000 be returned for the baby they didn’t order. They wanted her to pay $3000 to share the cost of the cesarean section required to deliver a twin birth and wanted the surrogate to pay them $5000 for “mental damage” since they did not receive what they ordered and paid for. Of course the surrogate did not have this money as she had spent the compensation for the pregnancy to cover her bills each month.

The list of casualties from surrogacy in the U.S. is long and growing.

We have had surrogate mothers in the US die. Sometimes even the babies they carry for the purchasing parents have died too.

There have been two surrogate mother deaths in California that we know of.

Michelle Reaves – mother of two – died, amniotic fluid embolism. Michelle’s husband lost his wife and their two sons lost their mother.

Crystal Wilhite – also mother of two – died of complications from her surrogate pregnancy, again leaving her husband a widow and their two children motherless.

Brooke Brown was pregnant with twins, being paid by a couple in Spain to carry their babies. Brooke and the twins died – a full term pregnancy that died of emergency complications, leaving Brooke’s husband a widow and their 3 sons without a mother.

Lydia Cox – a wife and mother – died like Michelle Reaves, from an amniotic fluid embolism.

Some surrogate mothers who die are nameless and referred to only as “Jane Doe”. I only discover these deaths when I discover a death announcement online which is associated with fundraising campaign to help provide financial support for motherless children. When Brooke Brown died, her “surro sisters” couldn’t even raise their $10,000 goal.

What is the Solution? Big Fertility wants regulation. While those of us here today call for a total abolition of renting wombs and buying children. To the regulators I ask:

How do you pass laws that will regulate surrogacy so that you prevent health risks to mother and child?

How do you regulate to prevent trauma such as PTSD and depression and anxiety, to mother and child?

How do you regulate to prevent the death to women and children? What law could our lawmakers write and pass that would save lives?

How many women and how many children need to be harmed or died before the rest of the world stands with us to Stop Surrogacy Now?!

I will close with thanking the Italian Government and Prime Minister Meloni for doing the right thing and being the example to the world on how to protect women and children. Let us resolve to Stop Surrogacy Now.

The post Founder Jennifer Lahl’s Speech on Surrogacy to the Casablanca Declaration appeared first on The Center for Bioethics & Culture Network.

Categories: All, Lay, Medicine

The growth in killing by euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition - Tue, 04/16/2024 - 21:38

Swiss assisted suicide coffinBy Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A Daily Mail article by Hope Sloop published on July 12, 2023 concerned the assisted suicide death of Catherine Kassenoff in Switzerland.

Kassenoff, a former New York prosecutor who had cancer, suggested in her facebook message that she decided to die by assisted suicide in Switzerland because of her abusive former husband. The article stated:

In a shocking and heartbreaking post on Facebook, Catherine had asserted that Allan abused her and was attempting to ruin her life prior to her death.

The woman, who at one point worked as special counsel to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, said she was a victim to a 'predatory' court system that kept her kids away.

The couple had, according to Catherine's post, been engaged in a nasty custody battle for their three daughters that continued to escalate.

Catherine Kassenoff lost custody of her children in a divorce battle with her husband. Sloop wrote that Allan Kassenoff, a successful lawyer, was on leave from his work.

The world is aware that suicide tourists die by assisted suicide in Switzerland, but they may not be aware that suicide tourism has spilled into America.

In October 2021, the assisted suicide lobby launched a lawsuit challenging the Oregon assisted suicide residency requirement. In March, 2022 the Oregon Health Authority settled the case by agreeing to remove the residency requirement.

A February 2023 article by James Reinl published in the Daily Mail reported that Dr Nicholas Gideonse was operating an assisted suicide clinic in Oregon to prescribe lethal assisted suicide poison for death tourists.

In August, 2022, the assisted suicide lobby launched a lawsuit challenging Vermont's assisted suicide residency requirement. Lisa Rathke reported in March, 2023 for the Associated Press that Vermont's attorney general's office reached an agreement with the assisted suicide lobby to drop Vermont's assisted suicide residency requirement.

There is currently a lawsuit in New Jersey challenging their state assisted suicide law residency requirement and several US States that have legalized assisted suicide are debating legislation to remove their stateassisted suicide residency requirement.

The US assisted suicide lobby knows that they will not legalize assisted suicide in every US state. By removing the residency requirements in states that have legalized assisted suicide, anyone will be able to die by assisted suicide in the US.

Canada legalized euthanasia in 2016.

Canada uses the term (MAiD) to avoid the terms euthanasia or assisted suicide. The difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide is how the act is done. Euthanasia requires the doctor or nurse to administer the lethal poison while with assisted suicide, the doctor prescribes the lethal poison but the person takes the poison themselves.

Canada’s original law had a terminal illness requirement in the law. In March 2021, Canada expanded its euthanasia law by removing the terminal illness requirement, removing the 10-day waiting period and allowing euthanasia for mental illness alone.

Once Canada removed the “terminal illness” requirement in its euthanasia law the result was the extension of euthanasia essentially to anyone with an “irremediable medical condition” (undefined phrase). Essentially this means that nearly every Canadian with a disability qualifies to be killed by lethal poison (euthanasia).

There has been media stories of Canadians with disabilities being approved for or dying by euthanasia based on poverty, homelessness, an inability to receive necessary medical care and other social reasons. Canadians were not being approved for euthanasia based on poverty, etc., but they were being approved to be killed based on having an irremediable medical condition, but their reason for asking for death was based on poverty, homelessness, etc.

The issue of euthanasia for mental illness alone remains a hotly contested issue in Canada.

In March 2021, when the government expanded the law, they placed a two-year moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness alone in order to develop “protocols”. The government then stated that no new protocols were needed to implement euthanasia for mental illness alone. The backlash caused the government to delay the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone until March 2024.

In late 2023, with the anticipation that euthanasia for mental illness alone would soon begin, many of Canada’s Provincial Health Ministers challenged the federal government on this issue which led to the federal government delaying the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone until March 2027.

Euthanasia and autism.

On January 30, 2024, a Calgary father went to court to challenge a decision that approved his 27-year-old autistic daughter for euthanasia. The father argued that his daughter was suicidal but she didn’t have any medical condition that qualified her for being killed under the law.

The Judge granted an injunction until the court could hear the case. The case was heard in March and on March 25th the Judge stated that the law did not give him an ability to review the euthanasia approval but he held the injunction for another 30 days enabling the father an opportunity to appeal the decision. The decision was appealed on April 2 and an injunction to prevent his daughter from dying by euthanasia remains in place until the appeal is decided.

Rupa Subramanya reported for the Free Press on April 1 that Zoraya ter Beek, an autistic Dutch woman (28) who has depression, is scheduled to die by euthanasia in early May.

Similar to the Calgary woman with autism, no one questions that Zoraya experiences depression and other mental health concerns, but there is question around a decision to kill a physically healthy autistic woman.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are legalized based on the concept of preventing suffering when a person is close to death.

In nearly every jurisdiction, after legalizing, the killing has expanded.

The reason is that there is only one clear line in the sand, that being, it is always wrong to kill people. Once the line in the sand is crossed, there is no new clear line. Any “safeguards” or new “line in the sand” are seen as discriminatory or creating an obstacle to one’s right to die.

The only answer is to prevent the legalization of killing and if legal, continue to call it what it is, killing.

Categories: All, Health, Medicine

Haim Bresheeth Zabner - "There is Nothing Jewish about the Jewish State"

Henrymakow.com - Tue, 04/16/2024 - 21:22

(Read online here)

I urge you to set aside some time to watch this 40-minute interview with Israeli historian

Haim Bresheeth Zabner who epitomizes what Israel could have been: civilized, humane and generous.

Zabner says there is nothing Jewish about genocide and militarism. He says Jews and Muslims lived in peace for centuries until Zionism came along. Some other points he made in this fascinating interview:

- Israelis can't decide whether they are invincible or on the verge of annihilation. The contradiction is driving them crazy.

- Israel is a major war manufacturer. It supplies the Indian army and most European countries.

--The IDF is embedded in all aspects of daily life and identity. We should not merely see it as a fighting force enjoying an international reputation, but as the central ideological, political and financial institution of Israeli society.

-- Israel has 200 nuclear warheads and is blackmailing the whole world.

With Netanyahu, religious fanatics have hijacked the Jewish state. Netanyahu promised the Chabad leader Schneerson that he will bring about the destruction of the world necessary for the return of the Jewish Messiah, the antichrist.

Source

by Ramona Wadi

(henrymakow.com)

Haim Bresheeth Zabner's detailed study of the origins and role of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are based on one main observation: Israel is defined by its military. An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defence Forces Made a Nation (Verso Books, 2020) delves into Zionist settler-colonialism and its violence, the latter being a necessity, as the author states: "An obvious element of any settler-colonial project is military violence, without which such undertakings are impossible."

Before Israel established itself in Palestine, Zionism was already becoming militarised, in line with the exploitation of biblical myths to support the invention of "a nation". The aggression, therefore, has historical roots and is part of an ongoing process. "Militarism has created material interests for the continuation of conflict in Palestine," writes Bresheeth, "it has become a crucial element of Israeli society."

A look at the IDF's origins shows how the early recommendations of violence against Palestinians as articulated by David Ben Gurion and Zeev Jabotinsky gave rise to Zionist paramilitaries, such as Haganah and Palmach, the latter later incorporated into the IDF in 1948. Targeting both Palestinians and the British Mandate authorities, the IDF pioneers paved the way for the foundations of impunity bestowed upon Israel, playing upon European Holocaust guilt, even as Zionist leaders had earlier reached agreements with the Nazis to facilitate Jewish migration to Palestine. It is no surprise, given the centrality of violence to Israel's settler-colonial project, that the military is not separated from the consciousness of its society.

The book explores the patterns of how Israel normalized violence, the absence of political solutions to advance violence, the IDF's development, the links between settler-colonialism and militarisation, the unequal power relations between the colonized and the colonizer, and Israel's global influence through its military-industrial complex. With such widespread influence, the author makes the case for political and social indoctrination within Israel. The propaganda that barely distinguishes between the military and society generates additional impunity that is seen in acts of military censorship to obliterate proof, the institutions created to protect the IDF, as well as its involvement in academia. "The Israeli army was not an instrument for the exceptional moment of war, but the foundational social institution of the new state, its guarantor of identity and existence."

With Israel's identity and existence attributed to the IDF, it is clear to see how the colonial state created a fabricated "post-colonial" identity for itself. From the 1948 Nakba, the victimhood narrative provided justification for Zionist settler-colonialism within its proponents. Zionism's preparation for war was in line with the plans to control the entire Palestinian territory and the lack of formidable opposition from Arab countries and the international community allowed what Bresheeth describes as "a perfect crime - one without a perpetrator."

Later wars instigated by Israel, exhibiting international allegiances, notably America's, also follow the patterns of earlier violations and aggressions. Having successfully marketed the Holocaust narrative, Israel ensured international support while it battled for further expansion and control within and of Palestine. The constant state of emergency, or the state of exception which Israel exploits to justify its security narrative, resulted in ongoing offensive action, particularly post-1967, when Israel's military expertise became the colonial state's biggest economic venture. Interdependence between the US and Israel resulted in the IDF becoming the largest recipient of US military aid, albeit with such aid not contributing to defence, as Israel alleges. The interventionist approach adopted by Israel requires perpetual warfare, to the point that the colonial state's conflation with war and peace resulted in a constant unease when it comes to security.

Internationally, Israel's strategy influenced the mainstream narrative of the colonial state facing an alleged existential threat. The normalisation of Israeli colonialism and the resulting military occupation contributed to the ongoing expansion over Palestinian territory and the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians. Settlements, argues Bresheeth, "were the crucial component of securing the territory," resulting in settlers being powerfully represented and controlling the government and the IDF.

Bresheeth also expounds on how the Palestinians' will to remain on their land signifies failure for Israel's ethnic cleansing policies. Meanwhile, as long as Palestinians can be rendered stateless by Israel, the colonial entity is in no need to orchestrate another Nakba on the scale of the 1948 aggression. The Oslo Accords, in line with Israel's neutralization of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's anti-colonial struggle, ensured the political framework that would work in Israel's favour not only in terms of land appropriation, but also the financing of the military occupation, which was left up to the international community. The IDF's violations, therefore, are a paid venture, in the name of Israel's security narrative, which enables the colonial project to retain its impunity. Reliance upon the collaboration of the Palestinian Authority's security services, mostly funded by the EU, has enabled the IDF to exert its control over the occupied West Bank.

Of particular note is the author's analysis of Israel's military-industrial complex, which is traced back to the origins of settler-colonialism. "The beginnings of the Israeli military-industrial complex (MIC) are the results of violence innate in the settler-colonial nature of the Zionist project." As Israel invested in arms production and allied itself with countries such as France, which would become its major arms supplier from 1956 until 1967, the colonial project visibly shifted its aims from defence to instigating conflict.

"Israel," says the author, "has a great investment in conflict-making: crisis, war and adversity strengthen its industrial core, making it more lucrative." The IDF, he notes, "formed a political system in its own image."

One observation in the book that illustrates its permeating presence is that "the IDF controls, directly or indirectly, 80 per cent of the land area in Israel." Its control of the political agenda in Israel has resulted in a society that is unable to live without the concept of "a military edge".

The author discredits the propaganda of "the most moral army" meticulously, revealing an institution that is historically violent and which needs the perpetuation of further violence to sustain itself. This is a must-read book. Rich in detail, it is structured in a way that is easy to follow and allows the reader to make the necessary historical connections which are missing in mainstream narratives, or obliterated to suit the dissociation under which politics and media operate.

--

Related- Reviews

Categories: All, Conspiracies, History

Failing Interventions in Yen and Gold, & Grab Bag

PeakProsperity - Tue, 04/16/2024 - 21:20

Better keep a close eye on the Japanese Yen here. And Gold. The failed interventions on both are meaningful. Also, it's time to stop being lazy. The difficult times are upon us.

Categories: All, Economic, Non-Catholic, Political

Actor Rob Schneider Unveils His Catholic Conversion Story: 'I've Never Felt More Peaceful'

ChurchPOP - Tue, 04/16/2024 - 21:14

Late last year, actor and comedian Rob Schneider announced his conversion to the Catholic Church.

In an exclusive ChurchPOP interview, Schneider sat down with editor Jacqueline Burkepile to discuss his conversion journey, along with his three family entertainment projects: the animated series, "Chip Chilla," the film, "Daddy Daughter Trip," and another film about the Shroud of Turin.

Schneider is known for his roles in movies alongside Adam Sandler, including "The Waterboy," and "Fifty First Dates." However, he said his wife never allowed his children to watch them due to the content. This prompted his decision to create more family-friendly entertainment.

"I wanted to make films that little kids can see," he explained.

Schneider also provided an in-depth story about his Catholic conversion process. While the announcement came in October of 2023, he says he converted during the pandemic.

"I was the one drifting away and Jesus was always there," he said. "When it became more obvious, and I when I saw Father [Chad] Ripperger, and I spent time with [a priest] in Phoenix...it became more reassuring to hear the words of a priest telling me that God–Jesus– already won. This is just a mop-up mission."

Schneider also explains that "the Catholic Church works for me because it's the closest to the actual words of Jesus Christ."

"If you go to the Aramaic, to the Greek, to the Latin, it's right there and that's why Kevin James did a with did a prayer with me in Latin and understanding The Words the few words and getting to understand more words. I wanted to open that up so that it gets closer and so you can be as close as you can to Jesus Christ," Schneider says.

"That proximity is something that has become very important to me as you see the world spin out. And as a foundation for my children--spiritual foundation. You can build a house, but if you build a house without faith, it's like you say, it's a house on sand. But if you build a house on faith, then you have something that no storm could blow away."

Schneider says he is working on a film about the Shroud of Turin. While producing it, he says his faith was "breathed into him."

"I was working on that as an entertainment piece and as a really interesting story. Then it became the broadening of my faith," he says." It was breathed into me and then it from there, it was really the beginning."

He adds that "a confluence of things" brought him "back to Jesus Christ."

"It was children. It was the pandemic. It was working on this piece and...I think you know how Jesus works," he said. "I've come to a place of peace with it and I still have a long way to go."

Here's the full Rob Schneider interview below:

Click here if you cannot see the video above.

Categories: All, History, Satire